I wait no more than a couple of minutes in the lobby area before getting an exam room. Then, usually the vet techs come in right away, and when it’s time to wait for the vet, it’s never more than 5 minutes or so.
[QUOTE=16 Hands;9031992]
I heard the conversation, they were talking about boyfriends not anything meaningful. The thing with the o b e where I waited an hour and a half, was after the emergency was over, they were taking other scheduled patients ahead of me while I sat and waited. I think they forgot I was there.[/QUOTE]
So why did you not ask when you will be seen? Sometimes there are paperwork screw-ups and patients do get out of order.
I guess I should have.
I love my vet. I never have to wait. The animal is weighed by the tech and the vet meets us in the room.
He even cleared his schedule for us the morning Dyna was PTS.
i try to get morning appts, and i usually arrive about 15 minutes early. i am typically taken to one of 3 rooms within 5 minutes of my arrival. if i have to wait due to an emergency, i am told. but i don’t mind bc i don’t make other plans when i go to the vet, in case of this situation.
Show up in a wheelchair 
They like to get you out of the waiting room because you take up more space 
(Just kidding but I have noticed I get taken to an exam room often right after I arrive, and before others sitting in the waiting room. I suspect I end up waiting longer in the exam room but there much harder to tell what is going out outside the door.
I try very, very hard to stay on schedule. But because I work in a full-time ER as well as a general practice (so we see appointments all day, along with emergencies), it’s impossible. I get that people are waiting, and their time is valuable, but when a hit-by-car comes in, all bets are off. You’d be surprised the number of people who don’t get that. They complain that they’ve been waiting for an hour. Okay, you were here when the severely bleeding mat of a dog was rushed into the back, so what are you expecting?
I will admit, though, that waiting 15 to 20 minutes is a gift even when we don’t have emergencies. Things just take longer than you expect. I tell people that everyone gets their turn. I’m not going to short change someone because another appointment took longer than expected. Have we had people walk out? Yep. It’s okay because I work in 1 of 2 ERs in a capital city, and the other one is not much better regarding time and a lot more expensive. We are not in want of clients.
Honestly, waiting 15 to 20 minutes is completely okay to me. We try to get people seen as quickly as possible, but frankly stuff happens. Emergencies happen. Routine appointments run over because nothing is ever routine.
I haven’t read this thread only the first post.
Fist of all veterinary clinics are both a general practice with appointment and emergency rooms. When making appointments it is impossible to know what may walk into the hospital that day. You can. Also have an appointment for one episode of vomiting and when it shows up is pouring blood from both ends and is practically dead. Thus that 15-30 minute appointment is now a 2 hour emergency stabilization and isolation case.
It is the nature of the business. Also was the vet you were seeing the one hanging out with a client? If not maybe that vet was on break having been there all day? Next if you request to see a certain veterinarian don’t be shocked if you have to wait longer.
A ‘Pet’ Peeve of Mine…
Inexplicable delays while waiting for medical/vet appointments is something that drives me round the bend. I get that emergencies come in (tho in the instance of physicians, it strikes me that the more sensible thing to do is to refer the pt to urgent care or call 911 for ambulance transport — assuming you can stabilize the pt while waiting) OR that a seemingly simple case suddenly devolves to a messy, complicated time suck. All perfectly understandable.
What is not understandable (acceptable?) is the seemingly pervasive attitude that the client’s time/life is secondary or unimportant. It baffles me why a staff member can’t, after 15-20 minutes, simply tell you that the Doc is running behind/had an emergency/is stuck in traffic/whatever and offer you a rescheduled visit or something else. It’s a very simple courtesy. So simple, in fact, that one wonders why more medical and vet practices don’t do it routinely.
Delays of the sort that many posters describe can also be an indication of poor time management which, when you think about it, does not inspire confidence about continuing with that practice.
On the rare occasions when I’ve experienced such delays, I step up to the counter and ask what’s going on. (No matter how politely it’s worded, that query sends a message that most folks get). Depending on the response I receive, I also have been known to ask if there’s written policy precluding staff from telling clients about the fact of and cause for a delay — before the client inquires. Assuming that I do see the physician/vet later, I also share my dissatisfaction with the unexplained delay — focusing on the notice aspect rather than the fact of a unexpected emergency.
In my book, advocating for your own medical care (and those of your animals) also includes advocating for timely, responsive appointments. It also includes leaving if you and/or your time aren’t treated with respect.
Aly
I usually wait about 10 minutes for the vet. The longest I’ve ever had to wait was roughly an hour - the staff explained that they’d had an emergency come in and apologized to me multiple times. I understood - after all, if I came in with an emergency, I’d want them to take their time caring for my pet. My vet is awesome and they always take the time to answer my questions.
I often have a much longer wait when I go to see my doctor - I don’t think I’ve ever waited less than an hour, which is irritating (especially when I’ve already been waiting for 20 minutes and the doc finally decides to actually show up, then see the 3 patients who have appointments before mine). I always make sure I take a book when I’m going to see him, because I know I’ll have plenty of time to read.
Why do you think that they don’t think your time is important? Have they ever said to you “he’s running late. too bad for you.” They are as frustrated as you are that things are running late. I hate it, but when we have an emergency, we tell people. We offer to reschedule, but warn them that we are an emergency clinic and an emergency could come in at that time, too.
It has nothing to do with time management. We run late when we don’t have emergencies because not every appointment is a yearly exam. Starts out that way, but then “hey doc, I noticed she’s drinking and urinating a lot more than before.” Next thing you know, blood work, explaining diabetes, showing how to give insulin, etc. Now while waiting for blood work I am seeing appointments, but still get behind.
Honest, no one likes to run late. We know your time is important. You want to complain to someone, complain to the people who show up 20 minutes late, who bring two animals when scheduled for one, who want to chat about their other animals that aren’t there, etc. Just tell everyone ahead of you to shut up and let the doctor do their job for what was scheduled.
I try to be very patient, especially if there is an emergency that just came in.
My small animal vet always treats us well. He just happens to be a neighbor, and has accommodated me and my animals in countless ways: dropping off meds for me on his way home, picking up a poop sample on his way in so I don’t need to go to the clinic, he’s available directly by cellphone, and even makes himself available if we want to euthanize an animal at home. It isn’t JUST because we live in the same neighborhood, he’s just a kind person.
There have been a couple of instances when WE were the emergency, and other times when we had an animal in crisis when we had to make the abrupt decision to euthanize. That can sure throw off a schedule, as can another emergency or critical case. I would never be upset about a wait like that. If an owner just received an unexpected diagnosis/prognosis, I would never begrudge the vets time to be compassionate and educate the HUMAN in the exam room. I just try to think of the times that my animal caused the schedule to go off track.
Plus, I think as horse people, we tend to be more informed/familiar with animal care, husbandry, observation and we may be quicker to comprehend the biology of our animals (obviously a very broad generalization). Not all pet owners are, though, and may need more counseling time so the vet is sure the pet is treated correctly and successfully. Add in a few MORE minutes.
I can always take my dog for a walk or pop the dog in the car to wait, and ask for a call on my cell, or just an estimate on when the vet will be ready for us. And if it isn’t something critical, I can ask to be rescheduled.
It is very, very rare that I get annoyed or upset about this kind of thing, waiting on an appointment for a routine visit. I’d much rather be waiting than be the owner who just received unexpected news about their pet. I don’t sweat the small stuff, I know the staff are doing their best to keep things running on time. If I didn’t feel that way, I would probably find another vet/practice to use.
That’s IMHO a lack of adequate training of front desk staff. They didn’t ask the questions needed to schedule appropriately. We schedule different slots for well pet and sick pet visits. I’m nearly 15 years in, and have very rarely run late, less than 10% of the time with seeing my own emergencies during the day and sometimes the ones which neighboring practices don’t want to deal with. I get a fair number of new clients that way. My mentor ran on time and still does. It can be done. He also sees his own emergencies during the day. If he’s out of town, I’ll take his sick ones and vice versa. I designed my schedule with catch up time at lunch where I can fit things in if I need to.
I usually figure the later in the day, the longer the wait. They will have things building up all day.Since I take care of animals myself, I know how things can go south fast. My vet never acts rushed with me, so I just deal with the wait. My vet is a freaking saint with my rescues, so I would wait all day.
I don’t see it as a front desk problem when someone calls for a yearly. They say they want vaccines, a heartworm test and a fecal. So they schedule 15 minutes. But then someone will bring something up to me, as the doctor. One of those “btw” moments. The front desk can’t help that. I can’t help that. It happens a lot.
And I’m not just seeing my emergencies, but those of every GP in Columbia who doesn’t want to deal with a parvo, a HBC, an attack by dog, etc. They want to go home. on time. even when it’s something they are perfectly capable of handling, like a blocked cat. I really love it when they send someone over without giving them an idea of our cost (which everyone knows). The people get here and decide to euthanize. Well, if they had just given prices at their office, they could kill the animal there.
Today is Saturday and I guarantee that Banfield will send over at least 3 or 4 emergency ear infections, UTI, whatever, because they have a very strict schedule and can’t fit people in. They take their money for the “wellness plan” that people think covers everything, and then send them to us.
I had a referring doctor send an attack by dog to me “just for monitoring.” It was a six week old puppy that had a crushed skull with the brain oozing through the cracked skull. All he had to do was take an x-ray and he could have saved the people 45 minutes of driving just to euthanize.
There are a lot of reasons for getting behind and try as I may to be patient with people who complain, it gets tiring. Go to your own doctor and be seen in 20 minutes. Good luck with that.
I go to a small, local small animal vet. Since one vet retired, it is now mostly a one-vet practice. One exam room. They try to schedule so you don’t wait long, but it soesnt always work. The vet is very good at explaining things and there are quite a few clients who produce pets with issues not previously announced. They are also good at working in urgent visits - I have been helped by this, so I don’t begrudge sometimes having to wait for someone else. Mostly I am in within 15 minutes, but sometimes they apologize and explain the delay. I could go to the big chain vet and have my pet seen on time but feel rushed out the door because my visit was only for “A” and since we found “B” we have to make another appointment as they didn’t allot time for that!
It’s rather telling, I think, when a client shares her experiences with certain med/vet practices and a provider (whom I’ve never met) responds in a manner that seems oddly defensive. I’m not sure what that was about, DB, but my comments were not directed towards you. As I noted, I’ve never met you nor utilized your practice.
As to your question, which I assume was in response to my post, I don’t need someone to tell me that my time is unimportant to infer that there’s a problematic underlying assumption on their part; it’s the consistent pattern of behavior that leads to that inference (e.g., consistently late without explanation or apology, frequent no-shows, etc.). I’m sure that we’ve all encountered people like that — in professional settings and elsewhere.
In those situations, I have a choice to make: I can suck it up and wait (again, without explanation or apology), I can raise the issue with staff and/or I can seek medical/veterinary service elsewhere. How many times does someone have to hit you, before you realize that there’s a problem? It’s the same principle, just a different order of magnitude.
I select vets the same way I select physicians for myself. First, I look for clinical expertise. (I’ve had wolfhounds for several decades, so familiarity/expertise with sighthounds was key). If the physician/vet passes muster on the initial criteria, I then look at social skills (doesn’t have to be my best friend, just responsive), staffing issues, time management expertise, etc. If I am/become concerned about any aspects of the practice, I raise it with the vet/physician in question (e.g., undue/unexplained delays for regular appts). If I don’t get a reasonable response or see a change in the way staff handle appts and wait times, I go elsewhere. Now, I’m lucky. I’ve always lived in areas that support numerous, first-rate medical/veterinary practices, so I can and have exercised that option when necessary.
And, no, I generally don’t wait longer than 10 or 15 minutes for vet/medical appts. On the rare occasions when an emergency has preceded me, the staff let me know when I/we check-in. I appreciate the courtesy and let them know. But, this part bears repeating: It’s such a simple courtesy, one wonders why more practices (medical and veterinary) don’t do it.
Aly
If you have been reading this thread from the beginning, you will see that I started out not the least bit defensive. But then you post “Pet Peeve of Mine” and how you just don’t understand why people can’t understand that your time is important and how them running late “drives you around the bend.” I replied to you by explaining that they do understand. They don’t like running late either. If something so unimportant as “inexplicable delays” is driving you around the bend, perhaps you need to learn a little patience. If they aren’t explaining to you why, then maybe you do need a new vet. But don’t be surprised if this occurs there, too. Really, in the long run, what is waiting 10 minutes for something? We’re talking 10 minutes late once a year if you are in for a routine examination. If your animal is really sick, it becomes an emergency and you get in sooner.
I’m not being defensive. I am being responsive.
I’m afraid that you’re missing the point. First, my own experience (and apparently that of several posters) is that we’re NOT talking about a 10 minute delay, nor once a year, come to that. To be fair, I suspect that the kinds of inexplicable delays at issue are more common among, but not limited to, physicians than veterinarians.
Second, we’re not talking about your practice or staff. I can’t and am not speaking about you and/or your staff, just as you can’t speak to what staff in other practices do. We all speak from our own experiences; one doesn’t invalidate the other.
Third, the issue isn’t the fact of the delay (reread my first post) but a consistent failure of the staff to either inform clients of the delay when they check in and/or offer alternate arrangements, as needed. I do that with my own clients/appts; it’s simply not that hard.
At base, therefore, what we have is either a (staff) training issue, a provider time management issue or both. One doesn’t see this in every practice, to be sure (don’t see it in the providers that I currently use, for example) but it’s common enough to raise questions about what’s going on in those practices where you do see it.
Thanks for the suggestion, but I think I’m displaying a good deal of patience right now.
Aly
